Poem: “Human Family” by Maya Angelou
I note the obvious differences
in the human family,
some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.
Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.
The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
Maya Angelou (born 1928)
I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I’ve seen the wonders of the world,
not yet one common man.
I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I’ve not seen any two
who really were the same.
Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.
We love and lose in China,
we weep on England’s moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we’re the same.
I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
Culture As a Process: Six Basic Concepts
According to Carol Brunson Phillips (1991), culture has a deep structure. To understand culture as an
ongoing process, she believes, it is necessary to understand six basic concepts about culture.
1.
Culture is a set of rules for behavior. You cannot ‘see’ culture because you cannot see the rules;
but you can see what people do when they follow the rules so that the people in that culture can
understand each other.
2.
Culture is characteristic of groups. The rules of a culture are shared by the group; these rules are
passed on to each new generation, and these form the core of a culture. Every person develops a
unique personality as a result of his or her own personal history, and at the same time develops
within a cultural context with some characteristics that are shared with others in that culture.
3.
Culture is learned. What each person learns of his or her culture depends upon who teaches them
and what and how they are taught about their culture’s rules. You can’t tell a person’s culture by
the way she or he looks. Someone can be Asian but culturally British. A person can also become
multi-cultural by learning the rules of several cultures.
4.
Individual members of a culture are embedded to different degrees within their culture.
Some people can learn their culture’s rules easily, while it’s not so easy for some other people. As
children are taught their culture’s core rules, they may not always learn every rule equally well.
Some families are very traditional, while other families are not. Even when individuals learn their
culture’s rules, they may not always follow all those rules all the time.
5.
Cultures borrow and share rules. Every culture has its own unique set of core rules for how to
act/what to do. However, sometimes different cultures might share some of the same rules. This
happens because cultural rules change over time, and sometimes groups that interact a lot will
influence each other. So, two cultural groups may speak or write the same language (or the
languages might just be very similar), but have different ideas about is good to eat and what is not.
6.
Members of a cultural group may be skilled in cultural behaviors, yet can still be unable to
describe the culture’s rules. Learning a culture is a process, and as we learn to imitate the
behaviors of others in our culture, we may never think about the rules behind those actions. A
toddler may be able to speak a language but probably couldn’t explain his or her culture’s rules of
grammar. So you can’t walk up to a person and ask him/her to teach you everything about his or
her culture, and you couldn’t ever completely explain your own culture to someone else. A lot of
the time, we’re not even aware of how our culture affects us.
Denotation (dictionary definition) of poem: A verbal or written composition designed to communicate
experiences, ideas, or emotions, characterized by the use of condensed language chosen for its sound and
by the use of literary techniques including (but not limited to) meter, metaphor, and rhyme.
Denotation of prose: Any ordinary, non-poetic speech or writing.
Denotation of simile: A comparison of two different things using ‘like,’ ‘as,’ or ‘than.’ [Think: simil(ik)e]
Denotation of connotation: The mental associations with a word beyond its actual dictionary definition.
Denotation of metaphor: A comparison of two different things that does NOT use ‘like,’ ‘as,’ or ‘than.’
Poem: “Identity” by Anonymous
1
For men and women are not only themselves;
they are also the region in which they were born,
the city, apartment, or farm in which they learned to walk,
the games they played as children,
5
the old wives’ tales they overheard,
the food they ate, the schools they attended,
the sports they followed, the poems they read,
and the God they believed in.
Poem: “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon (born 1949)
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush,
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from perk up and pipe down.
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments—
snapped before I budded—
leaf-fall from the family tree.
Using TPFASTT to Analyze Poetry
T
Title
What denotations (dictionary definitions) are presented in the title?
What connotations (mental associations) do the words have?
P
Point of
view and
Paraphrase
F
Figurative
Language
Who is telling the story of this poem, and how can you tell? Is the
poet speaking as him or herself, or is an invented character speaking?
Is the poem told by someone who appears in the poem as a character
(first person) or by an outside observer who’s not in the poem (third
person)? Translate the poem into your own words. What is it about?
What examples of non-literal language exist in the poem?
Figurative Language:
hyperbole: exaggeration
metaphors: comparing different things without using like, as, or than
similes: comparing different things using like, as, or than
personification: giving human-like attributes to inanimate objects or to concepts
A
Attitude
What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about him or
herself, about others, and about what’s going on in the poem? What is the
author’s attitude (it may be different from speaker’s attitude; sometimes
the author speaks as him or herself, and sometimes not)? How does the
author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about what’s going
on in the poem, and the reader? What are the emotional tones? If you
had to read this poem out loud, what would you do to show the attitudes
or emotions you think the author meant the poem to have?
S
Shifts
T
Title
Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc., occur? Look for
changes in time and place, line lengths or rhyme scheme, tones, or
topics; look at punctuation, stanza divisions, and sentence structure.
What is the purpose of each shift? How do they affect the poem’s
emotional tones and the poem’s meaning?
Re-consider the title. Knowing what you now know, why does the title
appropriately fit or not fit the poem?
T
Theme
List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine
the overall theme: the poet’s/author’s main idea or point, the ‘message’
or ‘moral of the story.’ Write the theme as a complete sentence.
Exemplar “Where I’m From Poem” by Mr. Juhl
I’m as intense as an accidental jolt from a car battery
I can move through crowds like a Dickensian pick-pocket
SIMILES
My family is as unique as a fingerprint
My relatives are like characters in search of an author
My friends are more varied than all the books in the library
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am a god of Olympus when I’m on top of a mountain
I have a black hole for a stomach into which endless food disappears
My laughter is a river into which I plunge fully and unashamedly
METAPHORS
My memories are a curse and a blessing, cluttering my attic of a brain
To me, school is a circus where I have to be ringmaster
My life is a journey of endurance; I hope I will not travel it alone